New York

‘It Was on Just Such a Cool Day That I Set Out From the Upper West Side’

Published

2 years ago

September 17, 2023

Press Room

‘It Was on Just Such a Cool Day That I Set Out From the Upper West Side’

Long Sleeves

Dear Diary:

I’m about six feet tall and in my early 70s. As long as the wind is not blowing too hard, I’m comfortable going out for a walk in just a light, long-sleeved sport shirt and no coat even when the temperature falls into the low 30s.

It was on just such a cool day that I set out from the Upper West Side to cross Central Park and spend a couple of hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As I walked east along 72nd Street, a woman who was probably in her 80s and headed in the opposite direction walked up to me briskly and jabbed her right index finger toward my chest.

“Young man,” she said, “you go right home and put on a jacket.”

— Spencer Karpf

Learning

Dear Diary:

I called it the rasp: the steep, treeless blocklong scarp of a sidewalk that connected Amsterdam and Convent Avenues in Harlem and was my playground when I was a 6-year-old girl growing up in the 1950s.

It was a time of learning. I learned to roller skate. Before that, I could only watch the big kids do it. Now, I had my own pair, hand-me-downs from my older sister.

I used the skate key to affix the metal skates to the soles of my red oxfords, a worn-out pair of shoes my mother held in reserve for playing outside.

I learned about momentum. Without a care, I tested my mettle, staring down the rasp from the top of the hill, and took off — whoosh! Flying, unrestrained, astonishing myself, Newtonian laws be damned!

But before I could take a second breath, the clamp on my left skate came loose. Attached only by a tattered strap, it dangled treacherously from my ankle, while my right foot rocketed on, detached and indifferent to the plight at hand.

I learned that the rasp was a flesh-eating serpent, and that roller skates can betray you. Together, they had colluded to take a respectable chunk of my tender young flesh, and blood, from my knee.

I learned that Mercurochrome stings … a lot.

— Lorenza Vidris

At the Counter

Dear Diary:

I was sitting at the counter at my neighborhood diner, having a toasted (well-done) corn muffin and coffee, when a man in his 40s came in. He was dressed casually but nicely. He asked if he could take the seat next to mine.

“Sure,” I said.

He ordered an omelet with spinach and tomatoes.

“That looks good,” I said when it arrived. “And healthy.”

“Yeah, but your corn muffin looks good, too,” he said. “I love cornbread.”

I don’t know why, but I said, “Do you want a piece?”

“I’d love it,” he said.

So I gave him a piece of my muffin, which he gobbled up.

Can you imagine — taking food from a stranger’s plate in a diner? Somehow, we both knew it was OK.

— Aimee Lee Ball

Crosstown Bus

Dear Diary:

Heading east on the crosstown bus from the Museum of Natural History, we watched a nanny struggle on, laden with a stroller, some packages and an obstreperous toddler.

As the bus lurched into traffic, she directed the young boy to the lone empty seat, where he loudly refused to sit.

Balancing her bundles and the stroller, she worked patiently to try to get him to sit down as the bus bumped through the park. Other passengers tried to cajole him into taking the seat. He was not having it.

At Fifth Avenue, a well-dressed woman stepped forward. Gripping the pole as the bus bounced along, she reached into her purse, held out two small toys and asked the wailing child if he knew what they were.

“Dinosaurs!” he said, whimpering through his tears.

The woman gave him one of the toys, and they started to play together. With that, the caretaker scooped him into the seat. He played with his dinosaur and then asked for one for his baby sister, who was in the stroller.

The woman reached into her purse and pulled out another dinosaur, which she gave to him. Then she gave dinosaurs to everyone who was sitting nearby, including me.

The woman said she was a volunteer at the museum and always carried toy dinosaurs for just such moments.

“Children everywhere, no matter their language or age — they all know ‘dinosaur,’” she said. “It works every time.”

— Elyse Montiel

Adorable

Dear Diary:

Very excited about the arrival of my niece’s new baby, I was searching for a baby store in Dumbo.

One had closed; another seemed to be online only. Finally, I saw an adorable little place, chock-full of little toys and outfits. I was taken immediately by a tiny plush jacket.

New York

10 Questions With Brad Lander

Published

1 week ago

June 11, 2025

Press Room

Brad Lander took a risk last summer when he entered the New York City mayor’s race instead of running for a second term as comptroller.

But he was worried then, he says, about the city’s future under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams — and later about the possibility that former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo would join the race, as he did.

He has run as an earnest technocrat with a stack of progressive plans. But he has not had the same momentum as Zohran Mamdani, who has risen in the polls and received the first-choice endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (She ranked Mr. Lander third.)

Ahead of the June 24 primary, the leading Democrats in the race visited The New York Times for interviews. We are publishing excerpts from those interviews, and this is the sixth in the series; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

We asked Mr. Lander, 55, questions about 10 themes, with the occasional follow-up, touching on his management of the city’s finances and the two good things he thinks Mr. Adams has done as mayor.

We’ve written previously about Mr. Lander’s plan to end street homelessness for people with severe mental illness, his criticism of Mr. Cuomo and how he seriously considered becoming a rabbi.

1. What’s the most important issue in the race: affordability, public safety, President Trump or something else?

In that order — affordability, public safety, Trump and then just cleaning up corruption and making the city run better. But I’ll put affordability first. That is what’s pushing people out of New York.

2. Who was the best New York City mayor in your lifetime?

The best New York City mayor ever was Fiorello La Guardia, and he was not in my lifetime. Alas, I wish he had been.

The mayors in my lifetime have done great things, but I hesitate to say which one. If you want the mayor who managed the city best — picked up the garbage, made the city function well — Mike Bloomberg certainly did that the best. But the gap in seeing how much income inequality was growing, and stop and frisk, were real.

The best single accomplishment of any mayor is universal prekindergarten, which has been incredible and life-changing for a lot of families, but there were a lot of other issues in the de Blasio administration.

3. Should the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan be closed to build affordable housing?

Yes.

4. What’s one issue in politics that you’ve changed your mind about?

I’m pleased to say I’m open to admitting when I get things wrong.

We did some research on Hudson Yards. I had put some things out when I was the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development that I thought the city was going to get screwed, basically, and not benefit financially. I thought it was all for the developer.

My team in the comptroller’s office did some research, then came to the office and showed me: We’re making between $200 million and $300 million a year. We published it. I put a cover note on that said: “I got this wrong. The research says this is actually working for New York City.”

5. There have been questions about where Mayor Eric Adams lives. Where do you live?

I live on 13th Street in Park Slope.

How much is your rent or mortgage?

Our mortgage is $3,300 a month.

Do you own a car?

We do own a car.

What model?

We have a Toyota Prius.

How often do you take the subway or bus?

I take the subway or bus a couple of times a week.

6. What do you consider yourself when it comes to your finances, growing up and now? Middle-class? Upper-middle-class?

My mom was a public elementary school guidance counselor. My dad was a legal services lawyer and then a private-sector lawyer. We grew up middle-class.

I would say we, my wife and I, are upper-middle-class. We made the very fortunate decision to buy a co-op in brownstone Brooklyn for $125,000 in 1996, and that is why we’ve been able to raise our family. We sold it, and then bought our rowhouse on 13th Street, and that has enabled us to live in a neighborhood that we couldn’t afford now, if we hadn’t bought then.

7. Mayor Adams has said that you’re not investing in Israel as comptroller and criticized your management of the city’s pension funds. Why?

I mean, Eric Adams lies every day and twice on Tuesdays — probably more than that, honestly.

Investments in Israel have grown on my watch, so it’s just a lie. And our pension performance — you can look at it. We’re actually the first to publish it online. They’re right out there for everyone to see.

Why do you think the mayor has targeted you?

I do my job. The job of city comptroller, in addition to managing those pension funds well, is oversight of the mayor — is to be a watchdog, and I have been a good watchdog.

We worked to cancel that $432 million DocGo contract. [Mr. Lander criticized the city’s decision in 2023 to grant DocGo, a medical services company, a no-bid contract to help care for an influx of migrants.] Our audits have been hard-hitting in all kinds of places.

I went early on to him and said: “Let’s find some things to work together on. Let’s try to have a strategy for what to do when it’s my job to say ‘This contract stinks’ or ‘This agency isn’t getting its job done.’”

And he smiled, like he does, but not one time have they been willing to work with us to fix something that’s broken.

8. What’s one good thing that Mayor Adams has done?

I’ll give him two.

NYC Reads — the focus on literacy, phonics education, kids with dyslexia. A lot more to do there. There’s only two of those structured literacy schools. I think there should be one in every district, but it’s a good start.

And trash containerization. It shouldn’t have taken us so long to put lids on the trash cans. There’s a long way to go there as well. And probably Jessie Tisch gets more credit than Eric. But a big part of the job of mayor is hiring good people. He has hired a lot of bad people, but he’s hired some good people as well.

There’s going to be a couple of big mayoral priorities that I’m going to deliver — ending street homelessness, building a lot of affordable housing, expanding child care and after-school — and then my commissioners and deputy mayors are going to do a whole bunch of great things we haven’t thought about yet. That’s what happens when you hire really good people and have their backs.

9. What’s your bagel order?

My bagel order is an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, a slice of tomato and lox.

Toasted or not toasted?

Not toasted.

10. What’s the last TV show you binged?

We’re watching “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.”

I haven’t heard of that one.

Should I pick something that people have heard of? The thing I’ve seen that people should watch is the “Station Eleven” mini-series on HBO. That is like the best thing ever on television. “Watchmen” is a close second.

Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.

New York

Test Your Broadway Knowledge, Celebrity Edition

Published

1 week ago

June 8, 2025

Press Room

Test Your Broadway Knowledge, Celebrity Edition

George Clooney is making his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of his 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck.” In 1994, he had his big break on the popular medical ensemble drama “ER.” Which other “ER” actor also starred in a Broadway show this season?

New York

Revisiting the Sexual Harassment Complaints Against Andrew Cuomo

Published

2 weeks ago

June 6, 2025

Press Room

Revisiting the Sexual Harassment Complaints Against Andrew Cuomo

Dave Sanders for The New York Times

Four years ago, Andrew M. Cuomo resigned as governor of New York under a cloud of multiple sexual harassment accusations. He seemed chagrined, embarrassed for acting “in a way that made people feel uncomfortable.”

But as he prepared to make his political return, his tone changed. He said he had been driven out of office by a political hit job. He sued the state attorney general and moved to sue one of his accusers. And he began to portray himself as the victim. “That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” he told The Daily Beast recently.

Now, as he runs for mayor of New York City, Mr. Cuomo is treating the scandal as ancient history, even as some of the complaints are still being contested in court.

Here is a look at all of the known sexual harassment allegations, where they stand and what Mr. Cuomo has said about them. (Some of the accusers’ names were shielded, in part or whole, by state investigators in their reports.)

2019-2021

Cuomo’s third term as governor

Litigation ongoing

Brittany Commisso

Executive assistant, governor’s office

Ms. Commisso said Mr. Cuomo grabbed her buttocks; reached under her blouse and fondled her breast; held her in close, intimate hugs; and asked her about her relationship with her husband, including whether she had ever “fooled around” or had sex with anyone else. She recalled his saying something to the effect of “if you were single, the things I would do to you,” and said he once complimented her on showing “some leg.” During their hugs, she said she would try to lean away from his pelvic area, because she “didn’t want anything to do with whatever he was trying to do at that moment.”

Litigation ongoing

Charlotte Bennett

Executive assistant, governor’s office

Ms. Bennett, who was 25 at the time, said the governor asked if she had been with older men and if she practiced monogamy, and told her he was lonely and would date someone as young as 22. Mr. Cuomo, she testified, also told her he “wanted to be touched,” and, upon learning that she planned to get a tattoo, advised her to get it on her buttocks. She said she felt as though Mr. Cuomo was grooming her. In a conversation about a speech Ms. Bennett was about to give at her alma mater about sexual assault, she recalled his pointing at her and intoning, “You were raped, you were raped, you were raped and abused and assaulted.” It was “something out of a horror movie,” she texted a colleague that day. “It was like he was testing me.”

State Entity Employee #1

Anonymous state employee

While posing for a photo at a work event in September 2019, the governor “tapped the area” between the employee’s buttocks and thigh, she told investigators, and then moved his fingers upward to “kind of grab that area.” “I felt deflated and I felt disrespected and I felt much, like, smaller and almost younger than I actually am,” she said. She said she had reported the governor’s conduct to investigators to support the women who had come forward with “more extreme” stories and to help establish that they were part of a pattern. “If I could do that, I felt that it was my responsibility to do that,” she said.

Alyssa McGrath

Executive assistant in the governor’s office

Ms. McGrath said she was taking dictation from the governor in 2019 when she noticed the governor had stopped talking. She said she looked up and saw him staring down her shirt. The governor then asked what was on her necklace, whose pendant was hanging between her breasts and her shirt. She said it was a Virgin Mary and an Italian horn. The governor would also ask questions that made her uncomfortable, she said, including about her divorce and whether, if Ms. Commisso were to cheat on her husband, she would tell anyone.

State Entity Employee #2

Director at State Department of Health

This state employee, a doctor, performed a televised Covid test on the governor at a March 2020 news conference. Beforehand, he asked her not to put the swab in “so deep that you hit my brain.” She said she would be “gentle but accurate.” “Gentle but accurate,” he responded. “I’ve heard that before.” She found his demeanor flirtatious and understood his statement to have sexual undertones. At the news conference, when the doctor appeared in personal protective equipment, the governor said, “You make that gown look good.” The woman told investigators that she “felt that in my professional standing I should share these facts, whatever they are, in order to support if there are any other women. I can’t say there are or not, who are saying they have been put in an uncomfortable position, or if there is any sexual harassment, that you have the facts that you might need.”

Anna Ruch

Guest at wedding of a senior aide to Mr. Cuomo

At the wedding of an aide, the governor approached Ms. Ruch, shook her hand, and then put his hand on her bare back, she told investigators. She said she grabbed his wrist to move it, at which point the governor said, “Wow, you’re aggressive,” and cupped her face in his hands. “Can I kiss you?” he asked. She turned her head, she said, and he kissed her cheek. (Ms. Ruch was hired by the New York Times photo department in 2022.)

2015-2019

Cuomo’s second term as governor

Litigation ongoing

Trooper #1

Member of Cuomo’s protective detail

The trooper said she first remembered the governor touching her inappropriately in an elevator going up to his Midtown Manhattan office, where he stood behind her, placed his finger on her neck, and then ran it slowly down her back, touching her bra clasp.“Hey, you,” she recalled him saying. In a separate incident, she recalled him running his palm across her stomach, “between my chest and my privates,” while she was holding a door open for him, an act that made her feel “completely violated.” A witness corroborated the account of Mr. Cuomo touching the trooper’s stomach.
The trooper said he would also say sexually suggestive and sexist things, and told her to keep their conversations private. Among other things, he requested she help him find a girlfriend who could “handle pain,” and he asked why she did not wear a dress, she said.

Lindsey Boylan

Chief of staff at Empire State Development and then deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor

Mr. Cuomo paid so much attention to Ms. Boylan that her supervisor concluded the governor had a “crush” on her, both she and her boss testified. Her boss asked if Ms. Boylan needed help managing the situation. She said no. Mr. Cuomo would also compare her to an ex-girlfriend, even allegedly calling Ms. Boylan by that ex-girlfriend’s name. And, she said, he would touch her legs, waist and back.
On an airplane, Ms. Boylan recalled Mr. Cuomo suggesting, seemingly in jest, that they play strip poker. Ms. Boylan’s boss at first claimed not to remember those remarks. After Ms. Boylan sent her boss what he described as a “disparaging” message that he found “threatening,” he corroborated her account. “I’ve been sexually harassed throughout my career,” she told investigators, “but not in a way where the whole environment was set up to feed the predator.”

Virginia Limmiatis

Employee, National Grid

Ms. Limmiatis said she had been waiting to meet the governor at a 2017 event when Mr. Cuomo approached her and pressed his fingers into her chest, pausing atop each letter of the energy company’s name that adorned her shirt. Then he leaned in so his cheek touched hers and, in her telling, shared his cover story: He would just say there had been a bug on her shirt. Then, she said, he brushed the pretend bug from the area between her shoulder and breast and walked away. After seeing Mr. Cuomo say during a news conference on March 3, 2021, that he had “never touched anyone inappropriately,” she felt compelled to come forward. “I am a cancer survivor,” Ms. Limmiatis told investigators. “I know an oppressive and destructive force when I see it.”

Kaitlin

Aide in the governor’s office

Kaitlin met Mr. Cuomo at a fund-raiser that her employer, a lobbying firm, was hosting at the Friars Club. When she introduced herself, he pulled her into a dance pose and told her he was going to have her work for the state. Though she told investigators she had never shared her contact information with him or his staff, nine days later she received a voicemail message inviting her to interview for a job in his office, at his behest. It turned out that two of Mr. Cuomo’s aides had been told to find Kaitlin’s contact information. Her colleagues urged her to accept the job, and she did. “I knew that I was being hired because of what I looked like,” she told investigators. The governor paid undue attention to her physical appearance and would comment on her clothes and makeup, she said.

Stephanie Miner

Former mayor of Syracuse

In a new book, Ms. Miner recounted Mr. Cuomo’s kissing her at public events against her will, actions she believed were an expression of his will to dominate. “His kissing me was about power,” she wrote in “Madam Mayor: Love and Loss in an American City.” She went on: “I never viewed it as sexual. We were gladiators in a public ring and that’s how he showed he was boss.”

2011-2015

Cuomo’s first term as governor

Ana Liss

Aide in governor’s office

Mr. Cuomo would kiss her cheek and would almost always address her as “sweetheart” or “darling,” Ms. Liss said. He spoke to her, she said, like she was “a little girl, almost.” She said she considered Mr. Cuomo’s behavior improper, but not sexual harassment. (A judge, apparently referring to Ms. Liss, said a complainant’s legal conclusion on that matter was “irrelevant.”) Ms. Liss said she had spoken up because “the other young women that had come forward with more egregious allegations weren’t being believed, and I believed them, and I wanted to share an account that was less egregious and spoke to the broader culture that allowed for the things that happened to them to happen to them.”

1997-2001

Cuomo’s tenure as HUD secretary

Karen Hinton

Consultant to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

While Ms. Hinton was working as a consultant for the Housing Department under Mr. Cuomo, he held her in a “very long, too long, too tight, too intimate” hug, she told The Washington Post. She told WNYC that Mr. Cuomo was “aroused” during the embrace. Years after the encounter, Ms. Hinton worked for Mr. Cuomo’s antagonist, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City.